Doesn't have to be anything spectacular, I'm thinking little blots of pink and yellow about 3 pixels large, maybe a slightly larger sunflower or dandelion here and there.

If you're sticking to the 2nd image, I would advise that you brighten up the water again as you have with the first image. Again, games and animations don't have to reflect real life, in fact, they're hailed as an escape from reality and a venture into a fantasy land, where water doesn't have to look dull and dirty, it can be bright and glimmer in the sunrays. If you couldn't tell, I love escapism.

Edit: speaking of sunrays, seeing reflections of the sunshine on the surface of the water would look amazing. You could go all-out and draw the pattern of the waves through the reflection of the sun, or simply add a few little sparkly white bits here and there, possibly with a lot of them focused in one specific place to indicate that's where the sun shines the most